Brazil, January 8: 58% approve of protests, but not invasion of public buildings
A PoderData survey conducted from January 29 to 31, 2023, shows that more than half of Brazilians (58%) approve of the January 8 demonstrations but disapprove of the building invasions that day that resulted in acts of vandalism to public property.
Another 37% said they disapproved of both the protests and the invasions.
Only 4% support both the protests and the invasions. Another 2% could not answer.

To carry out the survey, PoderData asked the interviewees a single question: if they approved of the demonstrations in Brasília on January 8, which ended with the invasion of public buildings.
The interviewee could answer that they:
1) approved the demonstrations and the building invasions,
2) approved the demonstrations but not the building invasions,
3) disapproved of the actions and the invasions, or that they
4) didn’t know how to answer.
The survey was conducted by PoderData, a company of the Poder360 Jornalismo group, with its own resources.
The data was collected from January 29 to 31, 2023, through calls to cell phones and landlines.
There were 2,500 interviews in 288 cities in the 27 states of the Federation.
The margin of error is 2 percentage points. The confidence interval is 95%.
To reach 2,500 interviews that proportionally fill out (as they appear in society) the groups by sex, age, income, education, and geographical location, PoderData makes tens of thousands of phone calls.
Often, it takes more than 100,000 calls until it finds the interviewees who faithfully represent the entire population.
The PowerData also questioned the interviewees about the arrest of extremists who participated in the protests and invasions. Read the results in this article.
PODER360 HIGHLIGHTS:
- disapprove of the protests and invasions – the rates are higher among the elderly (57%), residents of the Northeast (47%), and those who have only attended elementary school (47%);
- approve only of the demonstrations – adults aged 25 to 44 (71%) and residents of the Midwest (72%) are the demographic groups that are most concentrated in this response;
- approve of demonstrations and invasions – the rate is highest in the North region (10%).
JANUARY 8 X APPROVAL OF THE GOVERNMENT
Four in 10 supporting the government agreed with the demonstrations but not the building invasions.
The majority (55%) disapproved of the January 8th actions.
Among those who disapprove of the government, 4 out of 5 support the demonstrations in Brasília but are against the invasion of the headquarters of the Branches of Power.
Only 6% of this group favors the protests and the invasion of public buildings.
POLL AGGREGATOR
Poder360 maintains an archive with thousands of surveys with known methodologies about which it was possible to verify the origin of the information.
There have been studies conducted since the 2000 municipal elections.
It is the largest and longest electoral survey available on the Brazilian internet.
The database is interactive and allows you to follow the evolution of each candidate.
The survey information began to be compiled by journalist Fernando Rodrigues, editorial director of Poder360, on his website in 2000.
METHODOLOGY
The PoderData survey was carried out from January 29 to 31, 2023.
We interviewed 2,500 people aged 16 or more in 288 municipalities in the 27 units of the Federation.
A parametric weighting was applied to compensate for disproportionalities in the variables of gender, age, level of education, region, and income.
The margin of error is 2 percentage points higher or lower.
The interviews were conducted by telephone (for landlines and cell phones) using the IVR system (Audible Response Unit).
The interviewee listens to recorded questions and answers through the device’s keyboard. The study’s confidence interval is 95%.
To make it easier to read, the survey results were rounded. Because of this process, the sum of some results may differ from 100.
Differences between the total frequencies and percentages in variable crossover tables may appear because of non-response occurrences.
This study was conducted with PoderData’s resources, a research company that is part of the Poder360 Jornalismo media group.
With information from Poder360
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